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This is my early birthday gift for . Happy Birthday, dear! I hope, you will like it

I've always been fascinated by the paintings of the old dutch masters. Their themes of death and decay they roomed in very harmless settings like scenerys of people sitting in the kitchen by the meal, sleeping over work or just the still lifes are so full of symbols for death and sex. I try to make a modern, gothic version of it. The oil paint isn't dutch, but french. It's from the time of french realism, just before the impressionism cames to France.

This artist has taken something old and made it her own. The bowed head, the raised boot to lean her elbow on. The scene is set perfectly with the portrait in the background. The artist has gone to extremes to give it an old authenticity with a Gothic twist. You really have to look, to catch the nuances that set this piece apart, from a normal portrait. She is slightly framed by the picture behind her and the bowl of fruit that seems to be found in a lot of old paintings. What you will not find in old portraits is a skull that looks to be holding a black bird. It is a remarkable work of art from the black veil on her head to the portrait behind her, it has such a good quality in paying homage to something old, by adding something new. What an original way of doing a portrait, I think the artist was masterful in the fact of not going overboard with the look of today.

Ah, this is a lovely setup. I really like how you've used the lighting with a strong contast between light and shadows, especially where her skin's concerned, it makes her really stand out. The darker tones, the old painting and her costume give this a really Gothic feel ^^